Handover of syndicated mortgage oversight delayed until July

The planned transfer of regulatory oversight for the sale of syndicated mortgages to retail investors in Ontario is being pushed back to July.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) published final amendments to its rules on syndicated mortgages that will enable the regulator to take over supervision of the syndicated mortgage sector from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), but the implementation date for that transfer is being delayed.

That transfer was supposed to take place on March 1 next year, but has now been pushed back to July 1, 2021.

The delay comes in response to “stakeholder feedback,” the OSC said in a release.

In the meantime, the OSC has finalized rule changes that clarify the areas that will stay under FSRA’s oversight. These include “qualified syndicated mortgages” and syndicated mortgages that are distributed to “permitted clients.”

With these segments remaining under FSRA’s jurisdiction, the OSC’s rules will continue to exempt them from the prospectus and dealer registration requirements under securities legislation.

The OSC’s amendments, along with rule changes adopted by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) to beef up investor protection in the syndicated mortgage market, have both been delivered to Ontario’s finance minister for approval.

“The purpose of the amendments and the CSA amendments is to introduce additional investor protections related to the distribution of syndicated mortgages and to increase harmonization regarding the regulatory framework for syndicated mortgages across all CSA jurisdictions,” the OSC said in a notice outlining the changes.

The regulator also reiterated its call for firms that will require registration once it takes jurisdiction in the syndicated mortgage market to submit their applications for registration as soon as possible.

“The OSC, FSRA and the Ministry of Finance continue to work collaboratively to facilitate the transfer of regulatory oversight of certain syndicated mortgages from FSRA to the OSC,” it noted.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.